{"id":55211,"date":"2022-06-01T03:25:01","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T07:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=55211"},"modified":"2022-06-01T03:25:01","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T07:25:01","slug":"happ-announces-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/06\/01\/happ-announces-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"J.A. Happ Announces Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran pitcher J.A. Happ has announced his retirement from Major League Baseball. A longtime journeyman southpaw, he most recently pitched for the Minnesota Twins<\/a> and St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> in 2021. The announcement came during Happ’s May 26 appearance<\/a> on the Heart Strong Podcast with Jessica Lindberg. However, it was not widely reported until Tuesday. Over a 15-year career, Happ pitched for eight different teams. He established a reputation as a reliable lefty starter, winning 133 career games and a 2008 World Series ring with his first team, the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>. His lone All-Star nod came in 2018.<\/p>\n

J.A. Happ Retirement – A Career Retrospective<\/h2>\n

Happ started one game with the Phillies in 2007, before pitching to a 3.69 ERA in eight appearances in 2008. In the NLCS that year, he pitched three innings, enough to earn him a World Series ring following the Phils’ victory over the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>. His four-year tenure in Philly was followed by parts of three years with the Houston Astros<\/a>, then parts of three more with the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>. After splitting time between the Seattle Mariners<\/a> and Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> in 2015, Happ returned to Toronto the next year. 2016 was a career year for Happ. Despite being snubbed for the All-Star team, he pitched to a stellar 20\u20134 record. He had a 3.18 ERA, a 1.169 WHIP, and 163 strikeouts. In the process, he helped the Blue Jays to a wild card berth. The terrific season earned Happ a sixth-place finish in Cy Young voting.<\/p>\n

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Happ’s Numbers<\/h2>\n

Two years later, Happ had another excellent record at 17\u20136 and made the AL All-Star team. He was traded midseason to the New York Yankees<\/a>, where he would remain through 2020. He was brilliant in the latter half of 2018 with New York, going 7\u20130 with a 2.69 ERA in 11 starts. Upon his retirement, Happ finishes with a 133\u2013100 record, a 4.13 ERA, a 1.315 WHIP, and 1,661 career strikeouts. Along with the ring and All-Star appearance, another noteworthy moment in his career was a second-place finish for 2009 Rookie of the Year, his first full season. Chris Coghlan of the then-Florida Marlins<\/a> beat him out. All those highlights, along with getting over halfway to 3,000 strikeouts, add up to a very respectable career for J.A. Happ. Lasting 15 years in the majors will allow anyone to make a name for himself.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>